Day four- Doi Inthanon, Karen village

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Day four...we're a little tired this morning. There was quite a party going on at the resort (or so we thought, until we asked the owner...turns out it was the firehouse next door!) Sutthi picks us up about 9 to visit Doi Inthanon National Park. We decided not to go all the way to the top...too many tourists according to Sutthi. As we're driving Sutthi is quick to point out all the cars from Bangkok...apparently they all came to Chiang Mai for New Years' weekend!

We visited a few of the waterfalls, then went on a beautiful hike through the forest, passing several more spectacular waterfalls until we reached a Karen village. Apparently this village grows coffee, and boy could you tell! These guys seemed to be spending the day making coffee (and drinking it!) It was strong, but good. They told Sutthi that a buyer from Starbucks had been there recently and placed a large order of beans- 5,000 kilos, I think, and they were celebrating! We bought a bag (100 Baht...FAR less than what we all know Starbucks will charge!) and I bought a lovely scarf one of the women was just finishing.

That evening we took a taxi into the city (Fern Paradise has an arrangement with a local taxi service, 200 Baht each way, and they'll pick you up whenever you tell them you want to be picked up) So we went into town for dinner and tried our hand at bargaining at the night market. Bill wanted Western food, so we found a small pizza parlor and had dinner, and had a couple beers at the Irish Pub across the street. Then, the night market. I bought my boss a tie, a couple silk scarves, and a tuk-tuk for our travel Christmas ornament. All together...about 500 Baht. Not bad...Had the taxi pick us up at D2 around 11, then back to the hotel.

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